PS4 Looks Poised to Play Second Fiddle in the Call of Duty War

Push Square: "Love it or loathe it, Call of Duty is an important cog in any console’s catalogue. The series may have peaked in popularity with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, but last year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 still managed to rake in a cool $1 billion in just 15 days on the market – an impressive sum for a series that’s supposedly on the dip. As such, regardless of whether it manages to break the records of its predecessors, the just-announced Call of Duty: Ghosts is almost certain to be one of the biggest games of the year. So, it’s problematic for Sony that Microsoft appears to have dibs on the title for the time being."
(Call of Duty: Ghosts, PS4)

This game is not even a rent. I'm waiting for TLOU, fallout 4, Infamous3 and watch dogs. Running around with akimbo shotguns got old for me about 4 years ago. Unless ubisoft brings back spy vs merch or the new rainbow is a next gen Vegas then im just not interested in mp unless its dark souls style.

Why? Because if only one platform has CoD then the other will have more variety. CoD is a problem in terms of innovation. Its a 10million player market (on Ps3) every developer wants to dip its fingers leading to crappy multiplayer experiences. I mean, Halo is a great franchise but it doesnt makes me prefer the xbox line up instead of the PS3 line up. I have both 360 and Ps3 and both of them have great games. But the PS3 simply has more IPs, meaning more variety and great experiences.

COD isn't a problem in itself, it just fills a need in the market...remember before COD we had 8 years of Counter Strike, I personally never thought that game would go away. COD wont go away by itself, can only be replaced.

Didnt sony start this new generation by playing ms games of securing watchdog and destiny dlc content. All i am reading in these comments is a double standard and ms had plenty of new ips early in the 360 development so its possible with ms new found studios you might have to come up with a new quote like sony has no games and then itwas xbox has no games. This constant back and forth is just getting old to me.

You know what would make this year for me? Versus 13 releasing on ps4 this year/ I would have no choice but to day 1 the Ps4 which is generally against my policy.(I never buy new consoles day 1, they generally have very few games to play, Ps4 looks to be the exception)

But it being on lots of platforms when one of them has a better version is a bit of an issue. I mean, it is being unveiled properly at the XBOX reveal event... I see where this is going and I don't see it going well for COD fans who are PlayStation fans. Timed exclusive DLC? Perhaps. But even if PlayStation fans will say "Who cares? We only wait 30 days and we will have it anyway!" it is still a thing the XBOX version has over the others, whichever way you dice it.

Sony seem to focus on getting exclusives these days, which is great. Much rather have entire games exclusive than just DLC, but COD gamers who only want a console for that game are going to go for XBOX, surely?

@NBT91 Dude. PS4/X720 CPU design is almost identical. GPU design is as well with a few software touches on each platform for their supported APIs.

PS4 will be smoother and better experience than many Xbox 720 multiplatform games and there is nothing you can do about it. Even Call of Duty should be fluid as ever on PS4. PS3 Cell CPU was a giant maze for developers to squeeze out all the power for a game to even match up multiplatform wise it needs some of that CPU push.

DLC is not important. User content is important. That needs to happen this generation.

@ DeadlyFire
You say that with such certainty you are almost convincing. Really though, how could you possible know that?
"PS4 will be smoother and better experience than many Xbox 720 multiplatform games and there is nothing you can do about it", LOL let’s put the shoe on the other foot.
How would you like to login and read? "Xbox 720 will be smoother and better experience than many PS4 multiplatform games and there is nothing you can do about it"? Let me answer that, if someone posted that on here about ¾ of this community would blow a gasket. How do you people fool yourselves into believing you own bull$h!t?
One more serious question, do you even think your comments out before you post them?

DeadlyFire is forming his hypothesis on FACT that the PS4 will have x86, and most certainly the Infinity will also have x86 processor. This means, there will be little to no difference between the PC, PS4 and Infinity.

I cannot say one will be better than the other, but the differences will be marginal at best, and as a computer programmer with some knowledge in architecture, I don't believe there will be ANY noticeable difference between the three.

The ONLY difference will be platform support, which MS had the advantage of this gen, while Sony had the advantage in Battlefield support for DLC and PC had the advantage in capability.

Also, remember, this game is also being released on current-gen consoles, so I don't expect it to be the be-all, end-all of CoD games. CoD2 was the same case, and look at how far current gen consoles have come since then. I can assure you all that CoD will NOT go to a single platform, and Activision will NOT risk losing money from their number 1 cash cow just to take part in a fanboy war which they don't even give a crap about. The only reason MS would have ANY advantage boils down to money. If Sony wanted the advantage, they could pay for it, but they feel their money is better spent in development elsewhere.

I will never get the point of timed DLC Sony will get the DLC eventually anyway so why waste the money.Maybe it's just me I really don't care about multiplayer maps all that much to where I have to have it day 1

COD wont decide the generation, but it is the most popular and talked about game of all time. People will now, once again associate Microsoft with the best COD experience. To think it wont have any impact would be living in denial, but as I said it wont win a generation, just a nice feather in the cap.

While the association definately will swing more towards the Xbox brandThe Game more than sells its fair share of multi-million numbers on the PS3, so its hardly Sony shelling out money for timed exclusive when it comes at the latest 1-2 months after the xbox version.

The game sells bucket loads across both the xbox and PS3, and MS showing off a multiplatform game to define their next gen platform is pretty funny! It seems that history will likely repeat itself with MS's business model.

While this gen, sony will keep a steady flow of Exclusive first party but also court 3rd party as well as net Indy talent. I love the fact that Sony demonstrated the power of the PS4 with a Game built specifically for the PS4 and not a Multiplatform game, as its showcase, I know WatchDogs was also demonstrated but it wasn't the first game demo'd.

I'm not saying that the next Cod will be bad but and i'm not saying MS is wrong for showcasing a franchise that helped it become very popular among the PS3/Xbox360 gen of gamers, but this dependence of 3rd party multiplats at a console reveal? Its like yawn, show me a killer Built for the New Xbox exclusive running on engine tailor made to wow the crowd. It doesn't have to be a new Ip, just SOMETHING other than a yearly franchise that will likely LOOK and perform the same on the rival next gen platform.

Exactly. Just look at this Gen. Sony came with a 600$ machine, all the bad ports etc. Look how much it has accomplished. Sony didn't need anything exclusive from COD then and it won't need it now. Same goes for the respawn "exclusive". Sony has a lot of studio's that can develop Ip's they don't need to rely on third party exclusives.

It ultimately didn't matter this gen. Didnt ps3 get close or pass in number of cod players?

The big question after the respawn announcement is EAs relationship with xbox. If both Cod and Battlefield 4 are shown at MS' s E3 show that could ne huge.

Sony made a splash with Blows game and Destiny content. It made me think Activision has chosen Sony for next gen but not with CoD so maybe Battlefield remains closer to Sony. It will be interesting to see where we see Destiny at E3. Could they simply give special content to MS too?

I am not a huge fps fan and all of my friends play CoD and B on ps3 so....I am not sure how big a deal having timed dlc is anymore anyway. Is it even worth the money? If its CoD the game a month early, that could ne huge.

Anyway, I believe this says something about MS' s trajectory...its the same. They will use this gens biggest games with CoD and Halo to push gaming content for hardcore fans while also pushing new ways to entertain yourself. They will introduce really cool shit to enhance their online capabilities. It isn't strange that this gen will be just like next gen. PS4 will b more powerful but it will only show with exclusives. Sony will ne better with exclusives etc. And MS will have better all around online capabilities and features. And just like this gen I will buy a ps4 and then an xbox at some point. And many will do the reverse, especially at the lower pricepoint. Both will win and so will we. Poor Nintendo.

Socom, Mag, Resistance, Star Hawk, Twisted Metal and Almost PSAS either got cancelled or didn't do good. Nothing from Agent and Last guardian. (hopefully this E3 we hear from TLG.)

You have to wonder how many fail to wins games Sony will release next gen.

@Sonic Resistance didn't sell that good therefor Sony shelved it. But to be fair Insomniac did go Multiplat so Sony is probably making anew studio to tackle the Ip.

Forza's still here. In fact its rumored another Forza could get released with the new Xbox.

Fable The Journey I'm personally glad it failed. (sorry Kinect owners) that game had no buissness being Kinect title.

Crack Down sold over 1.5 million by the end of 2007

"Crackdown premiered to very strong sales. During the week of its worldwide release of February 22, 2007, it was the top selling Xbox 360 game in North America, Japan, and the UK.[40] The game was the top selling game in North America for the month of February 2007, selling 427,000 units.[41] Ultimately, by the end of 2007, the game sold 1.5 million copies worldwide." -Wikipedia

"Socom, Mag, Resistance, Star Hawk, Twisted Metal and Almost PSAS either got cancelled or didn't do good. Nothing from Agent and Last guardian. (hopefully this E3 we hear from TLG.)"

Resistance 1 and 2 sold 4 and 2 million. How is that a fail exactly!?! It was only 3 that didn't do very good, at 1 million. By your logic, Forza is a fail too because Forza went from being a 4 million seller (Forza 4) to 1 million seller (Forza Horizon). -_____-

"You have to wonder how many fail to wins games Sony will release next gen"

What WeAreLegion said....

"As long as they release them, I'll be happy. Those "fails" gave me some of the happiest memories I'll ever have."

And not to mention Microsoft MOST DEFINITELY has there fair share of "FAILED" games as well. Just as much, if not much more than the PS3. Games such as Fable: The Journey, Crackdown, Perfect Dark Zero, Forza: Horizon, The Witcher 2, Kinect Star Wars and Steel Battalion come to mind.

Considering Microsoft hasn't had a successful IP in over 3 years, or ANY NEW IP's for that matter.

You have to wonder how many fail to wins games Microsoft will release next gen.

The article makes no sense at all. So because COD is being shown at a MS event first, it automatically means Sony is going to get screwed? "So, it’s problematic for Sony that Microsoft appears to have dibs on the title for the time being" What??? ..... WHAT???

All this idiotic speculation from garbage websites is getting really old. I was hoping the console wars would stop this gen since both machines are supposed to be fairly equal, but it appears the juvenile douchebags are still out in full force, and there are still thousands of websites willing to fuel the fire for the sake of a few hits.

Although I agree with you, this is a problem for Sony. All they can really do is provide a great platform with the PS4 and hope it sells better than the competition. In return, games will sell better too and it puts them in a better situation to secure these kind of deals.

I heard this Activision/Microsoft agreement was renewed last year so us Playstation COD fans will likely have to deal with this for a few more years.

Truth be told, i never even notice the delay of the DLC, i'm usually too busy playing a different. game. I also find that i'm playing COD less and less with each iteration. That being said I do understand that COD is a huge franchise, but timed exclusive DLC makes very little difference in someone's purchasing decision because most people buy a system for more than 1 game.

It's no surprise Activision collaborated with Microsoft again to promote the new COD however Sony seems to have a great line up of great publishers that are backing the system up, the newest one being Bungie. I think both companies will have great publishers backing them up and it seems like thats going to play a key role in the success of the next gen consoles.

Bungie is not a publisher, Activision is publishing Destiny. So Activision is backing both consoles, it's only a sore point when Microsoft is involved enen though they don't outright buy full content exclusivity like Sony does.

nah...exclusive to xbox would equal a loss for Activision. same goes for exclusive ps4. the game makes too much money to be exclusive to anyone....plus if xbox has always online I wouldnt want to play cod on it thats for sure.

Unless COD has some sort of crazy overhaul, I just don't see it being as big a factor next gen as it was this gen. That's not saying it won't be successful, it's just not going to be the deciding factor. I agree, new IP should be focused on.

If only there was an event planned to not only showcase new hardware, but possibly new software too...Sometime in May would be fantastic. They could call it the xbow next generation event or something
*sigh* Never mind me, I'm just wishful thinking out loud.

I didn't care when PS2 was destroying everyone else. In fact I didn't even know it when it was happening. I didn't care about sales this gen at all either, though I knew about them once I found N4G because here sales are everything. Why would I care about sales next gen? To me, Call of Duty is not a good thing because it's sales cause other games to be ruined by CoDification. I'd rather CoD wasn't on PS4 so that Sony exclusives would be more likely to be free of it's influence. It might not matter though since they could still try to copy CoD anyway.

Why would it? PS3 hasn't been playing second fiddle to 360 when it comes to COD. The differences between the PS3 version and 360 version have narrowed recently with additions like dual PSN sign ins added to the PS3 version. The only real difference remaining now is 360 getting DLC 30 days before anybody else which isn't a huge deal since PS3 has received every bit of the DLC the 360 has, meaning we're getting the same experience there.

There is more to video games than Call Of Duty. To the people that only play Call Of Duty I hope one day you play different games like the Uncharted's, the Infamous's, the Gods of War's. Indie games like Flower, Journey and The Unfinished Swan. It pains me as a gamer to see Call of Duty so popular. Maybe one day a great game like Red Dead Redemption will be more popular than a Call of Duty. Maybe one day that day will come.

Unless they change it up in a positive way, and the COD fans don't feel alienated by it, then COD is slowly dwindling. Zombies is keeping it alive though.

Right now is the absolute perfect time for another game to step in and steal the light. Be great on next gen early on, and offer something other shooters don't offer. Similar to what COD4 did early this generation.

Another year... another MS conference... another ten to fifteen minutes of footage where everyone watching is smart enough to know COD is on more than MS platforms.

Nobody outside of the occasional dimwit thought any of the non-exclusives shown at Sony's event would be exclusive, despite the next Xbox not even being announced, and the same will hold true for every multiplatform game at Microsoft's conference.

Typical, Ive watched MS press conference and Don mattrick acts as if those games are "Exclusive" to Xbox. I remember him saying in 2008 E3 press conference "The Xbox 360, home of the biggest blockbusters, with titles like Gears 2, fable 2, FALLOUT 3, RESIDENT EVIL 5. Acting like RE and fallout are only on Xbox. He said also the same with Call of duty. MS is acting that 3rd party games are enough to satisfy Xbox fans. A true Xbox fan will not buy into this crap. Their over reliance on 3rd party games are really Lame.

MS is so pathetic. All that money and all they can put effort in is attempts at garnering mind share for popular 3rd party games to fool the masses. How about focusing on in house exclusives. Don't get how anyone can cheer for such a lazy company.

Love how the sony side is crying about DLC & a game having a reveal at it competition conference, But yet they forget that Sony will get an hour of extra content on two games from a 3rd party developer or how they had a new IP reveal at thier conference. But yet they get over dramatic when MS does it's too for thier product. Just sad.

Atleast at sony camp we don't "Rely" on 3rd party too much. Its just an added bonus. We have first party games incoming. Can you say the same with microsoft?? The truth hurts I know. If your a true Xbox fan, instead of defending them, why not voice out and tell them, "Dear MS, we don't want timed DLC exclusives and 3rd party games that are coming also on other platforms, You have plenty of money right? Then put that money to good use!, Develop plenty of first party exclusive games!! What is microsoft game studios doing?? They should go to work, Halo, gears, forza and fable will not forever do it for you, im somehow losing the incentive to support your console since everything I see are third party games and Kinect, Im one of the biggest fans and supporters of Xbox, please for the sake of us gamers give us what we want, not what you guys want... Sincerely witwicky343 xoxo"

Now that's how you say a piece of your mind. stand up. If it were the same for sony side, I will give them a piece of my mind.

LOL, This isn't a surprise and shouldn't shock anyoneIt seems MS is repeating the same business practice for this new gen of Xbox. New COD demonstrated for the XBOX? OK! Announce after the trailer that the DLC will come for the XBOX first and the PS4 later? uh huh! releases in November, Both PS and Xbox versions sell damn near equal with the xbox version getting the marketing edge... Sony, Activision and MS laugh it up to bank!

Wash, rinse, repeat next year!

I'm pretty sure Sony sees this as nothing worthy to throw money at when their bottom lines ends up leveling off in the ballpark of what MS would make on royalties, ha, maybe even more now since MS is using Blu-Ray now and sony collects royalties from bluray usage.

Every generation has it's big mega franchise and i'm pretty sure that this gen one will rise and Sony will seize it the same way MS has with COD and Sony has with Assassin's Creed.

Sony's shown already that they arent afraid of tossing cash at a publisher for some timed exclusive, both Watchdogs, Assassin's Creed 4 as well as Destiny all have content exclusive to the PS4.

So for MS this deal was expected and essential to MS's gaming business Model! For Sony, you clearly see where they are more focused at: Exclusive Games(not DLC), Ease of development, and indie talent, over Multiplats with exclusive DLCs, fewer exclusives, and not as much indie support! we'll see which pays off more this gen. I fully think Both these console will come out on top and we'll get some awesome stuff,I just hope MS adopts some of what Sony is doing, More Xbox exclusives (in house) and less dependence on 3rd exclusives!

The last cod title i owned was cod4 back it 2007. It was a great experience and a breath of fresh air. Ever since they started milking the franchise i haven't purchased a single cod title since.

I think i'll make it a tradition to only by 1 cod every gen, unless i see a substantial amount of innovation with every release. On the other hand sony keeps pumping out brand new IP's which push the envelope and they are the company my money is on.

Call of duty? Wow, I never knew that the criteria for winning top spot in popularity of gaming consoles was decided on an old, done to death, repetitive gaming series played by r-tards and 12 year olds. Amazing! Quick someone call Kaz and just tell him to give up and try again next time.

Let's use that thing called logic kids, Will Ghosts (MW3.5) be a 360 Nextbox exclusive ? .01% chance that it will be. So what advantage will MS have ? not graphical even though you can bet your last dime that Infinity Ward will sure as hell gimp the PS3 and PS4 ports. So what do you have left in terms of advantage ? timed DLC. Whoooo, I'm sure Sony is shaking in their boots.

Would be better off being an Xbox exclusive they need all they can get atm. Don't think after all the timed bull crap and second rate versions off the games activision has been pushing out for the PS3 there's many that give a crap about it either way. If i play COD its COD4 on PC and that's where i stop.

One off the most discouraging things as a gamer I've seen this generation is timed dlc for separate consoles. I'd prefer to not play than to be left behind. That goes to any multiplatform game aswell not just COD imo.

Consoles need there own identifying marks and that's means something you buy a console for something that separates them and that doesn't just mean the control pad.

At the start Xbox had plenty off exculsives then the well went dry and they started to focus on other things. This next gen to do well they need to get off the sequels and onto new IPs.

Focus far less on Kinect no matter the money they are spending on it and get there heads out off ruling the living room and back into the bedroom.

I don't want my console to take over my living room and have to sit a country mile away from it to use lumiroom and kinect.

I like chilling in my room feet up and kicking some ass online. Where did the idea come from having to take over the living room and having cable tv running threw a damn games console :/. I play games simple.

So why are there rumors suggesting FF versus 13 will be an exclusive to Playstation 4 in the form of FF 15?

Dont believe me, then google it, and then come back here and talk about financial woes all you want.

As far as i am concerned, this is only huge for a few weeks and then quickly dies out until the next COD game releases. We've been here before and yet both platforms are close in unit sales despite releasing a year later at a higher price tag.

Now that the Playstation 4 has been designed to get rid off any possible 3rd party excuses and is set to launch this holiday instead of a whole year later or at a high price tag, things will look different.

My question here is, if COD is what MS is going to sell americans, what are they going to sell the japanese?

Picture this, in Europe the Playstation brand is big and so is in Japan and developing markets like brazil and india, and if they do release in China, we all know Sony atleast owns an MMO studio in SoE and can just as easily make deals to bring some of the best MMOs currently available to their platform.

Heck Sony should port Planetside 2 and a few others to the Playstation 4 while they are at it.

This is the scenario i picture, MS marketing their platform like the next coming of christ and many buying into it for the first few months. But after that, things will go back to normal and both platforms will have sales parity.

MS has halo and Sony has GT as sales beasts, everything else falls down the middle regardless of the hype or press.

GTA and COD sold very well on both platforms despite exclusive DLC and heavy marketing.

And while Sony has its failures, so does MS, but that doesnt stop Sony from investing in new ips. In the end, its the same sh!t, just a different day.

cod ruined every mp game out there. lol lets lock all the weapons for the noobs and the experienced players get the best weapons. that will be a great idea~! oops uncharted 3 turns free-to-play guess not!! hahaha . U3 perk galore and i know LoU will be as well. I hope KZ:SF isnt a perk galore but i doubt it. PS: im a ps3 gamer